Founded in a Postwar Boom on the South Side
St. Jude Parish sits on Johnson Road on the south side of South Bend, Indiana, in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend. The community traces its beginnings to the years after the Second World War, when returning veterans and their families poured into the neighborhoods south of the city. St. Matthew Church, the local parish at the time, could not absorb the growth. Monsignor William Voors of St. Matthew gained permission from Bishop Leo Pursley to begin preparation for a new parish, and the first Mass was offered by Monsignor A. Wibbert from St. Matthew at the Southmore Community Building on December 5, 1948, with 110 registered families. Father John J. Szot, a former Army chaplain, was assigned as the first pastor. The bishop suggested the name St. Jude to give the parish a distinct identity and to avoid confusion with the Episcopal Cathedral of St. James in South Bend.
Ground was broken for the original church in 1950 with a cost of roughly eighty-five to ninety thousand dollars, in large part because the Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration donated materials from one of their chapels. Men of the parish spent their evenings and weekends dismantling the building, transporting it, and reassembling it as the new church. The cornerstone was blessed on October 29, 1950, and the first Mass was offered on April 22, 1951, with the formal dedication following on June 10, 1951.
In the decades since, the parish has built, rebuilt, and grown around the rhythms of Catholic life on the south side. A bronze statue of Jesus titled "Come to Me," sculpted by Richmond Barthe and dedicated in 1953, still stands in the island that drivers pass as they approach the church. A school opened in 1956 with the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Third Order of St. Francis as its first teachers. The present church building was begun in 1960, the mosaic was constructed in 1961, the Knights of Columbus Ave Maria Council 5521 was chartered in 1964, and the St. Vincent de Paul chapter was founded in 1965. A relic of St. Jude came to the parish on October 7, 2023, drawing the faithful for prayer. The parish marked its seventy-fifth anniversary with a Mass and a dinner dance in 2023, and Father Mark Hellinger was installed as the eighth pastor in 2025.
The Rhythm of Mass and Confession
The Mass schedule at St. Jude centers on Sunday mornings. Two Sunday Masses are offered at 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m., with the Saturday Vigil Mass at 4:30 p.m. fulfilling the Sunday obligation. Weekday Masses are offered Monday at 5:30 p.m. and Tuesday through Saturday at 8:00 a.m. Confessions are heard on Saturday mornings from 8:30 to 9:00 a.m. and Saturday afternoons from 3:30 to 4:15 p.m., with other times available by appointment.
The Rosary is prayed before every weekday Mass. On Wednesday evenings at 5:00 p.m., the parish gathers for an additional Rosary. Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament takes place on First Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., and a monthly Holy Hour with catechesis is held on the First Thursday of each month from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. On Holy Days of Obligation the normal pattern is a Vigil Mass at 5:45 p.m., a morning Mass at 8:00 a.m., and an evening Mass at 5:45 p.m.
Recorded homilies and talks from the parish are available through a podcast feed, and online giving is available through the parish's OSV Hub giving page. The parish also publishes a weekly bulletin online and a monthly newsletter by sign-up.
The Sacraments of the Parish
As a Roman Catholic parish, St. Jude celebrates all seven sacraments, and each one carries its own preparation process that the parish has refined over many years.
Infant Baptisms are generally celebrated after the 10:00 a.m. Sunday Mass. Parents may begin arrangements before their child is born. A Baptism class is required for parents expecting their first child and welcome, though not required, for parents of later children. Children over the age of seven who have not been baptized enter a longer preparation process that includes catechesis and the celebration of all three Sacraments of Christian Initiation. Adults seeking Baptism join the Becoming Catholic program, described below. The parish has a particular commitment to welcoming children and adults with special needs and their families into the sacramental life, and the Director of Faith Formation meets directly with each family to plan the celebration. Baptism preparation classes are offered four times a year.
Confirmation in the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend is normally celebrated when a candidate is in the eighth grade, between thirteen and fourteen years of age. Young people baptized as infants prepare for Confirmation through the parish Faith Formation program if they do not attend St. Jude Catholic School, or through the school curriculum if they do. Adults who were baptized Catholic but never confirmed must be confirmed by the Bishop, and the parish prepares them for the annual Adult Confirmation Mass.
Marriage preparation at St. Jude normally takes six months. Couples begin by meeting with the pastor, who confirms a date after establishing that both parties are free to marry. They then move through a marriage preparation course, a Natural Family Planning information session, and meetings with an assigned mentor couple, along with paperwork and follow-up meetings with the pastor. The parish also assists couples seeking convalidation of a civil marriage and helps couples explore the process called radical sanation when an earlier marriage was missing a dispensation.
Anointing of the Sick is available to anyone facing serious illness, the danger of death, or major surgery, as well as to elderly parishioners facing the challenges of aging. The pastor is available for emergencies at any time through the parish office line.
Funeral planning at St. Jude follows the Order of Christian Funerals, which moves through three principal rites: the Vigil (often with the Rosary at the funeral home), the Funeral Liturgy (with a Funeral Mass as the preference), and the Rite of Committal at the cemetery. The parish schedules funerals in collaboration with the chosen funeral home, and the priest and funeral director communicate directly so that the family is spared unnecessary coordination. Viewings at the church are limited to one hour before the Funeral Liturgy; longer visitations are held at the funeral home. A Funeral Liturgy outside of Mass is possible in certain circumstances, and the parish also helps arrange Masses offered for the deceased at any other time. The standard stipend for a Mass offered for the deceased in Indiana is ten dollars. Cremation is permitted, though the Church's clear preference is that the body be present for the Funeral Rites, and Catholics should never keep remains unburied or scatter ashes.
Becoming Catholic
Adults who are not yet baptized, adults who were baptized in another Christian tradition, and Catholics who have never been confirmed all find a path to full communion at St. Jude through the Becoming Catholic program. The parish holds Becoming Catholic classes on Tuesday evenings from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m., beginning around the middle of August and running through the Easter Vigil. Attending the classes is not itself a commitment to become Catholic; curious inquirers are welcome. Adults who were already baptized in another tradition normally make their Profession of Faith and are received into Full Communion during Lent, after a season of shared study with the unbaptized catechumens.
Heather Buison, the Director of Faith Formation, meets with each inquirer to begin the conversation.
Religious Education and the Parish School
St. Jude Catholic School has been part of the parish since 1956, when the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Third Order of St. Francis arrived to staff nine classrooms and one hundred students in the first four grades. Today the school serves students from preschool through eighth grade. The school shares the campus with the parish, and the 2013 capital campaign known as "Our Time to Build" added an elevator, two new classrooms, a conference room, and combined school and parish office space. The school roof was replaced in the same campaign, and the building's security and HVAC systems were modernized.
For children in grades K through 8 who do not attend the Catholic school, the parish offers a Religious Education program with sessions held on Sunday mornings from September through April. Preparation for First Communion and Confirmation is built into the program, and families register through the parish office.
The parish also provides free access for all parishioners to FORMED, an online platform with Catholic films, audio talks, e-books, and children's programming. Bible study groups meet on Monday evenings at 6:30 p.m. in the Catherine of Siena Room, and the parish offers streaming access to Ascension Press Scripture study programs for groups or individuals who wish to dig deeper into the Word of God.
Music, Rosary, and Adoration
The liturgical life of the parish is supported by a Director of Sacred Music, and the parish has invested in its music program over the years, including a new organ purchased during Father Henry Mascotte's tenure as pastor in the 1980s. A custom-painted set of the Stations of the Cross was commissioned as part of the 2013 building campaign, and mosaics of Blessed John Paul II and St. André Bessette now adorn the church.
The Rosary is part of the everyday rhythm of the parish: prayed before each weekday Mass and on Wednesday evenings at 5:00 p.m. Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament on First Fridays and the monthly Holy Hour with catechesis on First Thursdays extend that rhythm of prayer into a wider schedule. The parish's patron saint is honored in a parish relic of St. Jude, which the faithful venerated in October 2023.
Reaching Out: St. Vincent de Paul and the Parish Community
The St. Jude chapter of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul was founded in 1965 and has served a large section of St. Joseph County ever since. Volunteers deliver food to neighbors in need, relying on donations from parishioners and from the parish school children to stock the pantry. The Rosary Sodality, reactivated in 1995, prays the Rosary at funeral homes for the deceased, requests Masses for deceased parishioners, sends cards to those who are homebound, and sponsors pilgrimages and charitable activities throughout the year.
The Knights of Columbus Ave Maria Council 5521 was founded at St. Jude in 1964 and remained here until 1975, when the council moved to its present location on South Ironwood. The Home and School Association, founded in the early 1960s, sponsors annual events to celebrate parish life and support the school. Funeral luncheons are arranged by a group of parishioners for funerals of parishioners buried with Catholic Funeral Rites.
The parish sustains its mission through several streams of giving. Online giving is available through the parish's OSV Hub, and the parish also accepts IRA distributions and stock donations through the Business Manager. The St. Jude Legacy Society is a community of parishioners who have committed to a gift to the parish in their will. Larger gifts may be directed through the Catholic Community Foundation of Northeast Indiana, which supports endowments for parishes and schools across the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend.
Pastors and Parish Leadership
St. Jude has been served by eight pastors across its history. Father John J. Szot led the parish from its founding in 1948 until his death in 1970. Father Raymond J. Balzer followed from 1970 to 1975, and Father Edward A. Narcowicz served from 1975 to 1982. Father Henry R. Mascotte led the parish from 1982 to 1993, followed by Father James F. Stoyle from 1993 to 2002 and Father Derrick Sneyd from 2002 to 2006. Father John Delaney was pastor from 2006 to 2025. Father Mark Hellinger was installed as the eighth pastor in 2025.
Father Albert Owusu-Afriyie serves as Parochial Vicar. The Director of Sacred Music is Tom Farwell. Heather Buison is the Director of Faith Formation, with responsibility for Religious Education, Becoming Catholic, Adult Confirmation, and sacramental preparation for children and adults with special needs. Ana Maria Lewis serves as Parish School Principal. The Business Manager is Emily Nufer, and the Administrative Assistant is Carol Horvath.
The parish office is located at 19704 Johnson Road, South Bend, Indiana 46614, and can be reached by telephone at (574) 291-0570. Newcomers are invited to register through the parish office.